The Craziest Republican Legislative Proposals of 2012

Washington state lawmakers introduced a bill that would have outlawed the paper dollar, because “only gold and silver may be recognized as government legal tender.” This is just part and parcel of the extreme right’s continuing fascination with goldbuggery, a fascination to which the Republican party’s presidential candidates gladly pandered.

2. Striking the words ‘sea level rise.’

In Virginia, the Republican-led legislature commissioned a study to determine the impacts of manmade warming on the state’s shores, only to ban terms like “climate change” and “sea level rise,” deeming them “liberal code words.” And North Carolina Republicans voted to ignore studies that predict rapid sea level rise due to global warming.

3. Banning ‘Sharia Law.’

Republicans in states like Florida and Kansas passed Sharia-law bans in their state legislatures. In Kansas, a spokeswoman for Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) went so far as to say that the ban meant that the state “will not consider the laws of foreign jurisdictions.” The bans signified yet another year of the Republican establishment endorsing fringe Islamophobes.

4. Defining life as beginning before conception.

In Arizona, Republicans passed a new round of restrictive, anti-choice laws in the last year, chief among them HB 954. The bill, which one Republican defended by comparing women to cows and pigs, outlaws abortions after 20 weeks and actually starts the clock after a woman’s last menstrual period.

5. Allowing citizens to shoot at cops.

The NRA pushed Republicans in Indiana to pass a law that allows any citizen to open fire on a “public servant” for “unlawful intrusion.” Police fear this means a citizen could shoot at a cop, then claim the cop was trying to enter his or her property.

The movement to question the science of evolution was alive and well this year, as Indiana state senator Dennis Kruse (R) proposed not one, but two bills to inject creationist teachings into the public school curriculum.

David A. is spot on. The trouble with open democracies who embrace freedom of religion and freedom of speech, is that we tend to naively assume that everyone is like us. Look to the UK, France and your own Detroit to see that this is not the case. We must protect our freedom vigorously.

Whilst not condoning in any way Sharia or any other sect's religious laws usurping the National legal system. I believe that is exactly what happened to the native populations in the Americas (N & S), the Aborigines of Australia, & Maori in New Zealand.

The notion that Sharia Law will overtake the U.S. is just plain drivel. We have a Constitution that is the supreme law of the land.

OK, read the Constitution and then try to find any constitutional authority for the majority of the things done by the federal government and then consider the fact that the Second, Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments are ignored to an alarming extent, then consider such things as 'free speech zones', and then tell me again how the Constitution protects you while it is routinely ignored. What am I thinking, I almost forgot about the PATRIOT Act and the NDAA which make it legal to spy on you and to detain you indefinitely without a trial, never mind the violations of the Fourth and Sixth Amendments.

The notion that Sharia Law will overtake the U.S. is just plain drivel. We have a Constitution that is the supreme law of the land. Who in this country is going to let that change? Christians should stop trying to change Muslims and Muslims should stop trying to change Christians. If anyone doesn't want to live under our constitution, then they shouldn't live here.

No it hasn't happened in Dearborn, MI. You can read more about this fallacy here: